Franklin D. Roosevelt

Description

Bronze statue of Roosevelt as he stood and presented himself to the nation during a time when he was suffering from the effects of polio. The statue shows just a hint of the leg braces worn by the president below his trouser cuffs. Roosevelt's stance shows him gripping the podium to steady himself because of his difficulty in standing. Here he is shown delivering his famous "day which will live in infamy" speech.

Signature

Signature / Edward E. Hlavka

City of Presidents

In the year 2000, Rapid City launched the City of Presidents project on the initiative of Don Perdue, former history teacher and a fan of art. The plan was to install the statues of all 40 past presidents on downtown street corners over a 10-year period, at the speed of four statues per year, to promote pride in the heritage of our country.
The first year, the project began with the first two and the last two presidents: George Washington, John Adams, Ronald Reagan, and George H.W. Bush. (Clinton was still in office at the time). Every year after that, two presidents from the earlier years and two from the modern years were added.
On 9 October 2010 the last statues of the past presidents were unveiled. These three, Chester Arthur, Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, should be placed on their corners later that month, however they were not placed yet on the 20th of October, when we were there, so these statues are missing on our site. Now that
all past presidents are pictured, the pace will slow dramatically to include one president every four to eight years. Presidents will have a statue made after they have left office.

The sculptures were created by five South Dakota artists, Edward E. Hlavka (H), Lee Leuning & Sherri Treeby (LT), John Lopez (L), James Michael Maher (M), and James Van Nuys (VN). The design and critique of each of the presidents are in collaboration with the members of the foundation, and the other artists.